McCain: I’m inclined to vote with Democrats for cloture on this Boehner/Ryan budget deal

posted at 5:11 pm on December 13, 2013 by Allahpundit

This barely qualifies as news — Maverick being maverick-y, really? — but Drudge has been leading all day with that Daily Mail story claiming that zero Senate Republicans are backing the House’s budget bill. That makes it sound like McConnell and crew are set to kill this thing with a filibuster and put the two parties back at the brink of a shutdown in January. Not so. It’s sort of true that no Senate GOPer is supporting the deal in the sense that no one’s said yet that they’re voting for the final bill. But the final bill is irrelevant; Democrats can pass that on a party line with a simple majority. The big vote, as usual, is on cloture. And, as usual, you can guess which Republicans are lining up to cross the aisle.

With 53 Democrats and two independents expected to back the measure, four Republicans — John McCain of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona and Richard Burr of North Carolina — said that they would vote to cut off debate on the budget, putting proponents just one vote shy of advancing the measure to final passage.

Several additional GOP senators signaled Friday that they may also vote to advance the deal, including Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Lisa Murkowksi of Alaska and John Hoeven of North Dakota, giving proponents new confidence that a messy and acrimonious first session of the 113th Congress appears close to ending just before Christmas…

“I’m not OK with it,” McCain said [of the House bill] Friday, “but I think it’s better than shutting down the government.”

Added Collins: “I will vote for cloture. I’m still weighing [final passage] but I’m inclined toward it … The advantages of having a budget outweigh the reservations that I have.”

Give ol’ Mav points for honesty: Even in the House, this lame deal was all about preventing another shutdown and keeping the GOP’s political momentum going in the new year. So long as six centrist Republicans in the Senate are willing to help Reid get to 60, the rest can impress conservative voters back home by pounding the table and voting no. Rest assured, though, all of them (or nearly all) are relieved and really making no bones about it:

“We took the brunt of the shutdown blame,” said a senior GOP aide. “No doubt—it’s a good thing for us.” Put another way, if Senate Republicans blocked the budget agreement, they would play into what a senior Democratic aide called “one of our favorite narratives on them,” obstructionism. “I don’t think anybody on either side wants a government shutdown,” said Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark. “We need to get this behind us.”

The other X factor here, of course, is Reid’s decision last month to repeal the filibuster in the case of executive appointees and lower-court judicial nominees. The filibuster remains in effect for legislation, but it’s widely assumed that one side or the other will go ahead and nuke that too sooner or later under the right circumstances. Filibustering the budget deal might have been “the right circumstances.” The GOP’s already at a PR disadvantage when it comes to government shutdowns, and the fact that Boehner and Ryan vouched for the bill in the House would give Reid an easy opening to claim that Senate GOPers were being insanely obstructionist in blocking it. If McConnell et al. held firm, Reid could allow a new shutdown to happen in January, just to goose Republicans’ unfavorable rating, and then declare that he has no choice but to end it by nuking the filibuster in the name of passing a bipartisan, Boehner-approved government funding bill. That might have been popular with the public. Then Democrats could exploit that precedent to end the filibuster for good next year — including, possibly, for a new Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation. McCain and the others may simply have concluded that the stakes in the budget bill are too small to hand Reid that sweet of a plum.

Blowback

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Didn’t McConnell make a sweetheart deal with Senate Democrats regarding the shut down of the govt. over the budget…which probably also included a help-the-dems thingy on any budget talks…. (McConnell got billions for a project in his state)

McCain…he is trying so hard to come out of the closet to reveal he is a Democrat…

Paul Ryan was right when he said the Republicans need to win elections in order to push their agenda, but this isn’t the way to do it. All this has proven is that the current leadership will always have an excuse to cave to the Democrats. They don’t want to do anything, they just want the issues to run on.

I have had nothing but disdain for McCain since his Keating 5 days. I still cannot believe Rove made him the nominee in 2008. That year, I voted for Palin for VP and swore to myself it would be the last time I did a nose-holding vote.

McCain and the others may simply have concluded that the stakes in the budget bill are too small to hand Reid that sweet of a plum.

.
McCain is the ULTIMATE RINO … why do YOU choose to present him as something OTHER than a traitor to every conservative principle, AP?

McConnell’s position if FAR from hopeless as well.

The Republican caucus announces they will provide bipartisan support for the bill conditional on the following changes:

1) The “revision of Senate procedures” is completely eliminated from the bill and cannot be reinstated in conference.

2) The “promised” future cuts will be identified and enabled by the current bill and cannot be removed during conference.

3) Democratic leadership will publicly commit to passing this and ALL future budgets in compliance with existing Federal laws. (This is purely for political purposes – it is worth LESS than a bucket of spit but is worth getting the Democrats to make another bald face lie to the American public.)

Separately, we are going to rid the House of leadership which makes a mockery of the term and have demonstrated they are LESS principled than Barack Obama.

Inaction is better than adding to the crippling debt that we have. You are one of those whiny bi+ches who will wonder who will bail them out when inflation and the sinking of the dollar actually happens. Kinda like those Obama voters now getting their insurance cancelled now.

The other remaining question for the critics of the deal is: What is your alternative that can be agreed to? How would yours be any better?

It’s easy to criticize when you have nothing to offer. Do those who take this tack understand it contributes to other Republicans dismissing them as a bunch of cranks?

To those who wanted sequester to continue intact, where were you in September when Boehner was going to do just that with a “clean” CR that Reid and Obama had agreed to accept? Were you one of those who were behind shutting down the government? Well, that’s what led to the short term deal that had to be renegotiated.

The alternative is another shutdown, which we have seen is just for idiots.

Action on Healthcare…the nerve!
Next they’ll want immigration reform!
And these McCain shenanigans means the government won’t shut down and that perhaps a less acrimonious Congress with move actual legislation…outrageous!!
/

You’ll learn. Too late of course; probably as you board the boxcar for The Camps. But You will learn. And as you and your kind wail in desperation…I will laugh uncontrollably, and wave you fondly off to your miserable demise.

Defend your leaders and saviors as loudly as you can. Remember, Ernst Rohm was one of the first to go.

Action on Healthcare…the nerve!
Next they’ll want immigration reform!
And these McCain shenanigans means the government won’t shut down and that perhaps a less acrimonious Congress with move actual legislation…outrageous!!
/

verbaluce on December 13, 2013 at 5:55 PM

You one of those “smart” people who think that any progression is progress aren’t you?

I mean reforming and immigration system that has been largely ignored (not a failure) will suddenly work when Congress passes laws it will now miraculously follow..

Healthcare “reform” which has made more uninsured than when there was when it was passed.

Ah, the dumbest of the dumb f*cks makes an appearance, only to cut/paste the old bullshit “what’s your alternative” meme. Get tired of using that in the Obamacare discussions, did you? Thought you’d give that nonsense a try in here as well?

Is that the best you have, really?

Dear God, but you’re idiotic.

Are you seriously asking what the alternative is to increased deficit, increased debt, increased spending, increased taxes/fees, making it easier for the Senate to increase taxes, etc? Please, for the love of God, tell us that you’re not really this incredibly vacant.

(Reuters) – Anyone expecting a new era of good feeling to break out on Capitol Hill in the wake of this week’s bipartisan budget deal should probably forget about it.

That was the clear message from most lawmakers interviewed on Friday as well as from close observers of Congress, after the deal passed through the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday on its way to the Senate.

The budget bill, negotiated by Republican Representative Paul Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray, is vague and non-specific, avoiding tough, divisive issues. But Congress’ agenda for the next year is full of specifics, including raising the debt ceiling, funding individual government programs, immigration reform and passing a farm bill.

“I think next year is tougher,” said Nebraska Republican Senator Mike Johanns. “It’s an election year. Tens of millions of dollars will be spent trashing people, and it’s hard to forget that.”

The deal was a “one-off,” said Norm Ornstein, a scholar of Congress at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

It may avoid government shutdowns, assuming it passes the Senate next week as expected, he said. But “I don’t see any signs that the fundamentals have changed.”

That was also the message from the floor of the U.S. Senate, where Republicans, some red-faced with rage, kept berating Democrats on Friday for stripping away their right to block President Barack Obama’s judicial nominations using the filibuster, a procedural hurdle.

“The whole atmosphere here is totally poisoned, OK,” said Senator John McCain when asked as he left the floor if the budget deal changed anything.

“There’s no cooperation, there’s no comity. And it is what it is,” notwithstanding the fact that Democrats and Republicans came together to approve the budget bill.

And who shut the government down last go-round, that’s right, the same guy who ended up delaying parts of O’care anyway. Guess he doesn’t like sharing the credit.

antipc on December 13, 2013 at 6:03 PM

Exactly! The last delay was because Conservatives were right about Obamacare, so right that the same guy that refused to negotiate ended up putting into practice the things they were trying to accomplish. And now who are the obstructionists here?

I’ve said it precisely twice. I can see from your unique perspective of reality that this might constitute ‘a lot’, though.

What does that mean exactly? Just that I think meeting you would be a lot of fun. I like meeting new and different people, and you’re very different from the educated, intelligent, thoughtful, discerning, reality-based people I know, so that would be different, and fun! I mean, no one I know actually believes in unicorns, so I can imagine you have many fanciful tales to tell! How entertaining! And I like Skittles, so you could bring one of your unicorns along!

Why, what do you think that means? Are you saying you’re not fun or entertaining? Or you don’t actually like Skittles, perhaps?

I don’t think McCain is a Republican. I think he is a Manchurian Candidate from the Vietnam era. Or, he could have the hots for pelosi or Reid. McCain, I voted for you, but since then, I have been walking around like Lady MacBeth, rubbing my hand and saying “out damned spot!” This hand that pulled that lever will forever be cursed. Can anyone exorcise my hand?

The other remaining question for the critics of the deal is: What is your alternative that can be agreed to? How would yours be any better?

Adjoran on December 13, 2013 at 5:54 PM

It’s this moderate, middle-ground, “More Electable” kind of thinking, that breeds the current Weak Sister group the Republicans have become.

“Show me a more reasonable Idea” is not a valid request. There is no “reasonable” acceptable, easy fix. And Sequestration was always for DoD, the *ONE* responsibility *specifically* enumerated for the Federal Government.

DoD needs to make cuts. They are going to have to eat it, period.
But the EPA needs to be dissolved, period. Parks Service needs to eat it. BLM needs to eat it. the NEA needs to be dissolved. Flat out, The Federal ‘Budget’ needs to be halved, at minimum. (Ideally, it should be a miniscule fraction of what it is now.)
All ‘palatable’ fixes are fantasy; they are band-aids on bullet-wounds.

The fake U.S. Economy will go away, one way or the other. I would rather America does it voluntarily, than let other world powers decide for us when and where, and to what extent.

I don’t think McCain is a Republican. I think he is a Manchurian Candidate from the Vietnam era. Or, he could have the hots for pelosi or Reid. McCain, I voted for you, but since then, I have been walking around like Lady MacBeth, rubbing my hand and saying “out damned spot!” This hand that pulled that lever will forever be cursed. Can anyone exorcise my hand?

Old Country Boy on December 13, 2013 at 6:12 PM

The candidate was old, the strain of the Oval Office and all, and the promise of a conservative waiting in the wings.
We all had to drink or pray before pulling that lever against the tyranny we find ourselves in today.
Imagine how Obama voters feel. I mean, if they have enough IQ points to muster a coherent thought.

No, you ran around telling everyone it would be your fault and then like magic, folks blamed you.

Man…the nerve…a do-something Congress!
/

verbaluce

Oh look, a moron. Apparently taking a shit on the congress floor and having everyone sign it would be a good thing because they’re doing something, lol. Because everyone knows it’s not what you do that matters, what matters is that you do something..anything, no matter how bad.

Whew! There’s a shocker. It would be far more noteworthy if we’d just ignore all McCain proclamations of his actions until the day comes where he goes super mavericky and joins the most conservative members of the Senate against the remainder of his party and the Democrats.

McCain is so vain that he always wants to be in the spotlight. On this issue, he’s not sure where the spotlight is going to be and that’s why he’s not definitive about it. As soon as it looks like his wisdom is needed, he’ll be there to self-congratulate in front of the camera.

On this issue, it doesn’t matter what McCain thinks. Congress is tired of fighting about the budget so they are jointly agreeing to anything. They just want to go home.

They must be really scared of the Won on just about every issue that comes up except for foreign policy which they know most people don’t really care about. They are afraid of being called the r word, the anti woman words, the anti gay words and the anti poor words. It’s not ever going to get any better especially when Killary announces. I saw a bumper sticker in town the other day Obama 2012 Clinton 2016. The end is not in sight.